


Manor

by yeaka



Category: Travelers (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21891625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: They view a house.
Relationships: Ray Green/Philip Pearson | Traveler 3326
Kudos: 10





	Manor

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Travelers or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

It’s small, smaller than it should be—just one bedroom, when there are five of them, though all the others have better places to sleep. Still, if they were going to have a _house_ , they should all have a room. Not that they can afford it, even with Philip’s bets. It gets harder to keep up every day. But it looks like it all works. Lights, heating, a couple pieces of furniture—cozier than the big but empty warehouse. The house is so much less... _depressing._

“I can get it dirt cheap,” Ray mutters, meandering back into the living room, and Philip follows. They face the fireplace—a _real_ one, and that feels so novel. He might never use it, but it’s like something out of the storybooks, reminiscent of a time long past: even before they started jumping. Sometimes Philip fantasizes about going _farther back_ , to when carbon emissions and nuclear wars weren’t even _a thing._

Ray asks him flat out, “What do you think?”

Philip lifts his eyes to the ceiling. There’s even a fan on the light, in case the summer gets too hot—assuming they live to the summer. He admits, “It’s nice.”

“Should I put up the down payment?”

Philip snorts. He’s explained to Ray that it won’t be like the beginning—he just can’t bring in huge bets anymore. They can’t afford to win the lottery every week. But Ray doesn’t really _get it_ and probably thinks Philip could just fork over the money for a whole house—even a ‘dirt cheap’ one—without thinking twice. 

It’s not even up to Philip. He grunts, “Still have to check with Mac.”

“Why?”

Philip glances over, and Ray actually looks _confused_. Philip can’t explain that MacLaren’s _the leader_ and gets to make those decisions, but he can at least try: “Well... it’ll effect all of us, so...” Ray should at least have figured out by now that the others come and go and the warehouse isn’t just _Philip’s_.

But Ray asks, “So? Why do they care where you live?”

“Me?”

Ray spreads his arms open, gesturing to the house at large, and scoffs, “I’m showing _you_ , aren’t I?”

Philip’s brow knits together. He doesn’t understand. “I thought... you were trying to get me out of the warehouse...”

“Yeah, and in with me. I wasn’t betting on that weird cop guy bunking with us.”

Philip blinks. He looks at Ray, dazed, unsure he’s heard right, because it sounds like Ray’s asking if they can move in together. Or rather, just assumed they were doing that. They didn’t talk about it. Ray said he had something to show Philip, Philip followed, and maybe it’s not surprising they weren’t on the same page, because Ray doesn’t even know what book Philip’s from.

It’s flattering anyway. Bizarrely heartwarming. For all Ray knows, Philip’s still a drug addict with some sort of illegal betting game going on in a creepy rundown warehouse. Philip still doesn’t know where Ray actually lives, but it’s got to be with better company. He can’t imagine what kind of life Ray’s picturing for them, living together in a quaint little house like two regular people, but it sounds as nice as it does intangible.

For a split second, Philip entertains that fantasy. Maybe he’d like that too. Waking up next to Ray in a proper bedroom. Wandering down to make breakfast in the kitchen. Setting up a laptop in the den and feeling warm carpets under his feet while he desperately tried to save their future. It could be wonderful. 

But it’s not Philip’s protocol five. It’d suck Ray deeper into something too dangerous. And someone needs to hold down the fort—a fort open to all of them equally, with no special consideration for twenty-first lovers. 

Philip offers a broken smile and no words. Ray wilts like he understands anyway. He rolls his eyes and mutters something under his breath, maybe swears—Philip’s genuinely sorry. He hopes Ray can feel how much he wishes things were different.

But that’s another life in another world. They head back out to the car, the house left for someone with more hope than the two of them.


End file.
